Everyone that knows me knows that I have a special place in my heart for Missouri politics. For us political junkies, there has been lots of excitement. At the end of June, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon called a special session to do two things. 1) Pass tax incentives to keep the Ford plant in Claycomo, Missouri and 2) reform Missouri’s state pension plan for future state employees. A 20+ hour filibuster against the $150 million tax credit proposal ended this morning in the Missouri Senate.

I’m not a fan of corporate tax incentives. Ford has (not publicly, but to politicians) threatened to leave Missouri if they do not receive tax incentives to keep the plan open. How much will this cost Missourians? $150,000,000 over 10 years, or $15,000,000 per year. In other words, Missouri taxpayers will be subsidizing the salaries of these workers, if they stay) to the tune of $4,054 per employee, per year. Multiply that times the 10 year period and Missouri taxpayers are nearly paying the salaries of these 3,700 employees, paying the equivalent of $40,540 per employee.